Air dams, which are sometimes called spoilers, can be mounted to the lower front bumpers of vehicles such as pick-up trucks to reduce the amount of air passing beneath the vehicle. This reduces aerodynamic drag and helps increase fuel economy. It should be understood that the lower front bumper is in some cases surrounded by a fascia and in this type of arrangement, references to the front bumper herein are to be understood as including the front bumper/front fascia arrangement.
One type of air dam is the deployable air dam that can be moved between a deployed (or down) position where a panel of the air dam extends vertically down from a bottom of a front bumper of the vehicle to a short distance above a road surface and an undeployed (or up) position where the panel of the air dam is retracted to a position spaced from the road surface several inches more than when it is in the deployed position. For example, when the air dam is in the undeployed position, the panel of the air dam is at or slightly lower than the bottom of the front bumper of the vehicle.
One of the drawbacks of a deployable air dam when it is in the deployed position is that it blocks air to under-hood and under-body components. A fixed air dam has the same drawback of blocking air to under-hood and under-body components. This reduces the amount of heat that can be dissipated by the air flow to under-hood and under-body components.
An object of the present invention is to provide a deployable air dam that can provide increased air-flow to under-hood and/or under-body components when increased air-flow is desirable.